If you've commented here with things like, "you suck" "you kiss ass," Rita and I are letting Ed to decide whether or not to publish them. His blog, his call. We haven't deleted them, they're just waiting for moderation.While you can write those things and in some cases may even be warranted, we suggest including your full name along with an email address, and your phone number. This way Ed can confirm you said this, so your future grand children can google you one day and find out that you thought so-and-so was an ass-kisser.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The instinct to protect ourselves is inherent, we are wired that way. There was a time when the ability to protect one's self, was a matter of life and death. In the wild, it's killed or be killed, but you don't live in a jungle, so there will be no need to sharpen your spear.

Some of the greatest benefits of this world can only be experienced by allowing yourself to be vulnerable. You cannot love if you are always on guard. You cannot be loved if you're in fight or flight mode. True love is offered through sincerity and received through and open heart.

The holiday season is upon us. It's a time of reflection, gratitude, and recognition. Drop your defenses and give yourself permission to be a vessel from which love can freely flow.

Take your gloves off and embark on this journey with a generous spirit, a loving resolve, and a positive attitude.

Monday, November 15, 2010

When I first head about the possibility of SSG Sal Giunta being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Rock Avalanche in the Korengal Valley, I was with filmmaker Tim Hetherington and MSG La Monta Caldwell. We were excited over the prospect, and wondered if it would be true. The gravity of the circumstances under which he earned it was never lost on us. After all, the events at Rock Avalanche unfold before the viewers of the film Restrepo. Tim was there. Months have passed, and on Tuesday, November 16, SSG Sal Giunta will be the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam war. President Obama will present it to him at The White House. His mates from the 2/503 will be there with him. So will the reporters who were with the platoon.

What strikes everyone is his reluctance to see himself as extraordinary. As Giunta says,

"It sounds really awesome in theory, but it’s not…what’s it worth, Brennan, Mendoza? It’s worth a lot, I don’t want to downplay it, it is the Medal of Honor, the highest award in the country, but … I didn’t do shit, I did what I did because in the scheme of this whole painting the picture of the ambush, that was my brush stroke. It wasn’t the most important brush stroke, I just completed the picture."

It's with a lot of mixed feelings that he accepts this award. A person doesn't become a hero alone, but as the result of circumstance and with the foundation made with the help of others. He is accepting this in honor of the men who were there with him, including SGT Josh Brennan and Medic SPC Hugo Mendoza who died that day. This is reason enough to accept the nation's highest honor.Join me in wishing the men of the 2/503 Battle Company peace and good will.

"The description that resonated best with me comes from a study done by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. and Alexander McFarlane as traumatic memories, which induce emotional and physical manifestations of stress. Rather than being filed under a bad memory, they are replayed over and over again, and these intrusive thoughts become the reality a person builds their life around."

Emmett Jaime received a telephone call from Ken Olson's son Marty that Ken had passed away Tuesday November 2nd at home. Ken and his wife Gayle have been living in Central Point, Oregon for almost a year after living 3 years in Nevada north of Las Vegas.

They will have his services on Thursday November 11th in Central Point and Gayle has requested that if anyone wants to send something that send it to their home.

Each November they come, marching on streets from Fullerton to New York City.Some are grizzled and grey, their rows not as straight, and many march arm in arm. To see a veterans day parade is to bear witness to a time line of war and peace: Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, The Pacific, and Europe. And if you were to imagine, preceding them would be soldiers from Belleau Wood, San Juan Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, and Valley Forge. If we look around us, we might even imagine all the loved ones they left behind, standing alongside watching the procession go by.

The passing years are gently worn by some of the WWII vets. While there are those still able to make the march, others sit at the staging area. They wear caps emblazoned where and with whom they served. Many have medals pinned to their jackets. Their vision is not as keen, sharp sounds are softer now. Yet, here they are, craning their necks, listening for the familiar sound of boots on the ground. They are waiting for their brothers who are marching for them.

Veterans gather every November 11 not just for the fanfare, hoopla, or flag waving. They come together to feel the bonds of service. For this was a time in their life when brotherhood was never a question and trust meant the difference between life and death. Unlike the camaraderie displayed among actors on a screen, or by athletes on a team, what separates them is the oath they took to protect and serve our country. Often this meant saving the life of their brothers, even if it could cost them their own. What distinguishes them is each has walked the warrior path, embodying a code of ethics and honor. In combat, they put aside their own needs. They would die for each other, they would die for you, they have died for us.

We know this day stirs old memories of those they have lost. Battle buddies who sat with them in a trench, a hooch, on the deck of a carrier, on a stretch of beach but didn’t make it through. The sounds and smells of war come back, not only today, but late at night when everyone in the house is asleep. For it’s not just the physical harm they risked, what they put on the line was their soul, sacrificing their own sense of peace. What many have worked so hard to get back is the same certainty they had during the war –a cause or person who makes them feel that life matters as much now as it did back then.Hand to hand; face to face; eye to eye; brother to brother; soul to soul.

Some have weathered the toll of war better than others. The men and women who trudged through fields, jungles and urban decay have to regain their balance in fog of war. Today, when the word veteran is greatly shortchanged by stereotypes, when they themselves are politicized, finding their inner peace hasn’t been easy. Some have failed, others struggle. But many, who have reclaimed it, work tirelessly to help those who are still on the march, trying to catch their breath. They are, and always will be –warriors.

This is why we gather on Veterans Day: to see and honor the brotherhood between those who have served and continue to do so. All we have to say to them when we walk by are five simple words: “Thank you for your service.”

As members of the Executive Council, we've spent the last several days speaking with the leaders of our business units and with our employees, getting their input and thinking about the best way for the company to continue moving forward. As many pointed out, we have accomplished a lot over the last two and a half years -- thanks largely to your creativity, effort and dedication. We also received an abundance of feedback about additional ways to improve our capabilities to capitalize on opportunities.

Fortunately, there is a lot of opportunity ahead.

Today, we continue moving ahead by announcing several organizational changes designed to streamline corporate operations and increase collaboration across the company. These changes entail restructuring Tribune Interactive and our Human Resources organization in ways that enable us to enhance our focus on revenue, reduce overall expenses, leverage centers of excellence within our business units, and improve the level of service to our internal stakeholders and customers.

Tribune Interactive is evolving in recognition of the importance of digital and mobile revenue to Tribune Company's future and will be renamed Tribune Digital. In this new configuration, all functions related to revenue will be headed by Don Meek as EVP/Tribune Digital. Don will report to the Executive Council and his day-to-day contact will be Tony Hunter. As part of this evolution, Doug Thomas will continue as EVP/GM of Tribune365, and report directly to the Executive Council, with Eddy Hartenstein as his main point of contact.

Under Don's leadership, Tribune Digital will develop high-value, market-driven projects to drive business unit results. We’ve also charged Don and his organization with determining the solutions required to drive more revenue in the short term, while positioning us for future growth. The scope of this effort will include Advertising Operations, Innovations, Product Development, Market Support, Audience Development, sales of our technology solutions to outside clients and related Finance and Operations functions.

Eddie Tyner will lead the company’s Marketplaces (Classifieds) strategy and incorporate ForSaleByOwner into his organization. Eddie will collaborate with the business units to refine our strategic direction and drive innovation in this critical revenue category. He will report to Don Meek.

Julie Anderson and her content team will report to Gerry Kern. Julie and Gerry will define the most effective way to ensure collaboration and coordination in the delivery of content to our business units.

Stephen Waldon and the Healthkey content team will report to Tami Dennis, VP/Health Content at the Los Angeles Times. We expect the excellent working relationship between the Healthkey content team and our business units to continue.

The Research and Business Intelligence functions will be divided between Kathleen O'Hara's marketing team at the Chicago Tribune and Bill Nagel's business services team at the Los Angeles Times, and we anticipate increased collaboration across the entire company on these important functions and initiatives.

TRG -- The Results Group -- led by Ellen Glassberg will become part of Bob Fleck's organization at Chicago Tribune and continue to work with all the business units across Tribune Company.

We're also planning to restructure the company's Human Resources organization in a way that will allow us to share best practices and leverage the HR expertise residing in the corporate office and in our business units. We want employees to feel connected not only to their individual business units, but to Tribune as a whole. We've asked Gwen Murakami, Janice Jacobs and Mike Bourgon to lead this effort. This leadership team will focus on both business units’ human resources needs and corporate shared services functions.

As a result of these steps, several positions are being eliminated and Marc Chase, Carolyn Gilbert, John Martin, Jeff Kapugi, Geoff Melick, Betsy Phillips, Barb Buchwald, Ken Perry, and Louise Sheard will be leaving the company. We appreciate the contributions of these individuals and wish them well in their future endeavors.

We are confident these changes will enable us to improve operating results and internal collaboration. Let’s stay focused on the future.

"Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country -- and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians." Go figure!

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

No one else can guarantee that you will be successful or fulfilled in your life. And that's what makes success and fulfillment so desirable.

If you wish to experience life's true richness, you must make your own way toward it. Others can lead you and guide you and encourage you, yet no one can do it for you.

You are blessed with the magnificent opportunity to express what it means to be alive in your own unique way. The fulfillment of that opportunity, by very definition, must come from you.

The real meaning of accomplishment is not what you get. Accomplishment has value because of what you put into it.

Though no one else can guarantee your success, you can guarantee it by making the commitment to do whatever you must do. You can guarantee it with your intention, your focus, your action and your persistence.

Today, tomorrow, in any place, whatever the situation, you can make a difference, for your own life, and for your world. Grab that opportunity, make the most of it every chance you get, and you'll guarantee your own success.

Monday, November 01, 2010

The case against non-dues paying employees in the pressroom at the Los Angeles Times was continued till March, 2011 by the civil court. The original judge residing over the case was absent, with a substitute judge filling in for the day.

Additional cases and grievances will be heard on November 8,10, and 11, 2010.

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About this blog and The Pressmens Club

The blog was started to talk about issues impacting the pressroom both positively and negatively. The views expressed here are not of the LA Times, but of each individual's opinion. The Pressmen's Club is composed of men and women who have printed the paper for twenty years or more. Semi-annual dinners are held in March and October. See Ed Padgett for more information.